


Strong Hand

by stonerstark



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2586872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonerstark/pseuds/stonerstark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma Simmons has been back for less than a week after her undercover operation at Hydra, and is slowly trying to find her footing again. She's not sure she knows how to handle either Agent Morse or her wavering friendship with Fitz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Please be kind, I haven't written anything in forever, especially in english - which isn't my first language. Also it's unbeta'd. Because I don't have a beta.
> 
> 2 things: 
> 
> 1) The title is the title of a CHVRCHES song I listened to while writing this chapter.  
> ... I also listened to Budapest by George Ezra, but I didn't want to call this fic that, for obvious MCU reasons.  
> 2) There's a reference to another tv show in this chapter, see if you can find it !

There was a lot to be thankful for, Jemma chose to think.  
She was back on the Bus, and out of Hydra. The team was all back together. There even were some new additions to it.

That was nice. Well, Agent Morse was nice. Mack looked alright. She wasn’t too sure about Lance Hunter yet, but she was sure it would settle in time.

But the biggest thing to be thankful for was that everyone was fine, herself included.

Though, Fitz… Jemma tried to erase that thought from her head.

But have you ever tried not to think about something ? You always end up thinking about it. Which was exactly what was happening to her. She couldn’t help it, really. She was in this permanent state of unease, she just couldn’t forget what he had said to her, and in what state he was now, and why.  
Since she had got back, she had seen Fitz, several times. She had talked to him, several times. It always left her weary, and it always left him… worse than that. Mack, when he had been there, had, every time, after a while, politely told her that maybe she was needed elsewhere. Every time, she had curtly nodded, and left.

She had been back for a little less than a week, and there had been nothing to do. No mission, no case. Jemma spent most of her time either in her bunk or in one of the many rooms that were not the lab, on her computer, reading the files she had brought back from Hydra - well, that Agent Morse had brought back from Hydra, truth be told. There was a lot of them, some she had not even worked on while she was undercover.  
The hard drive, which had been a curtesy of Skye, also happened to have copied on the down-low a lot of stuff that certainly weren’t on par with Jemma’s Hydra clearance. She didn’t know how it had gotten there, to be honest. She read it cautiously all the same, as she did with the rest.

It was a lot of work.

Coulson had told her to step back for a while, enjoy the little things, like not having to be afraid 24/24, 7/7 that she was going to be found out and painfully killed.

And she was ! It was just a bit more grim than what she had imagined, she concluded, trying to focus on the file she was reading. It was on some Californian federal consultant, some kind of false psychic that Hydra had marked a potential asset. Reading about him, Jemma could not help but notice he would be much more suited for SHIELD. She decided to forward it to Coulson. Anything to help.

As absorbed as she was redacting the memo she was about to send to Coulson along with the file, she still noticed that someone had sat beside her.

« Always hard at work, uh ? » 

Didn’t stop her from jumping a bit when she heard whose voice it was.

« And… still jumpy. » added that voice.

Agent Morse was looking at her, smiling. She looked tired and had a nasty cut on the side of her cheek, and her hair was blonde and she was in full battle-suit and definitely not Hydra. 

« Agent Morse. You’re back. »

Jemma quickly seized her up as to detect any injury, and frowned when she noticed that her suit had a rather important tear on her right arm and that it was bloody. Agent Morse followed her gaze.

« Bobbi. And, yes about that.. I know. »

« Let’s go down to the lab, I can -« 

« Oh really, don’t bother, it’s just a cut, nothing important, it can wait. »

« That’s the least I can do, really. » Jemma smiled, put her computer away and got up. « Plus, field agents returning from dangerous assignments need full medical checkup, it’s protocol. » 

« Well, if it’s protocol then, I guess I have no choice. » smiled tiredly Agent Morse before getting up as well and wincing, Jemma immediately to her side.

« It wouldn’t have been dangerous if you had acted like I told you to, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised right ? » jabbed Hunter, standing in the doorway. He wasn’t looking too great either, but unlike Agent Morse, on top of that he looked like he was in a bad mood.

« Please don’t start » sighed Agent Morse.

Jemma could see that he was, indeed, about to start.

« I’ll see you for medical checkup right after, Agent Hunter. We were about to go down to the lab to do Agent Mor-« 

«It’s Bobbi, I told you »

« -Bobbi’s medical checkup. »

« I don’t need any bloody checkup. » grumbled Hunter. 

« It’s protocol, Lance. Just get some rest, Jemma will look after you later. »

Hunter’s features softened almost unnoticeably.

« Alright. Take care then. » He turned to look at Jemma. « Agent Simmons, I’ll see you later. » He left, slightly limping.

Jemma realized she still had her hand on Agent Morse’s uninjured arm to stabilize her, despite the fact that she was standing fine by now, and dropped it quickly, blushing.

« Let’s head down » she simply said.

Agent Morse nodded. Her smile had faltered a bit.

 

///////////

 

The walk to the lab was short.

« Aren’t you going to tell me what happened ? » inquired Jemma as they were almost there.

« There isn’t a lot to say, really. Classic Hydra ambush. It was just Lance and I, and a lot of them. May wasn’t there, she’s doing whatever she does with Director Coulson, so it really was just the two of us. He saved my ass, and I saved his, but as usual he just chooses to omit that. Anyway, we retrieved the artifact. »

Fitz thankfully wasn’t in the lab, though Jemma wished for a second someone else was there.

« Shouldn’t you have brought backup along ? Like Mack, or Tripp.. Just sit on that stool, i’ll be back in a second, I’m just going to get what I need. »

« Tripp was monitoring us from the jet, and Mack, well he says he’s more useful with Agent Fitz these days. »

Jemma shivered. But then, this lab was always kind of cold, unlike the one they had on the Bus. Or so was her excuse. 

She found what she wanted and went back to Agent Morse, who was still calmly waiting for her on her stool, though the top of her battlesuit had been zipped off and she was standing in just a sport bra. Jemma found herself unable not to stare for a couple of seconds, painfully aware that Agent Morse knew that she was staring.

« What is it ? »

« Nothing, I just.. hadn’t asked you to take off your top. »

« No need to ask » Agent Morse grinned, clearly knowing what she was saying.

« Yes. Well. Good thinking. » she mumbled. Oh god, she was making a fool of herself, wasn’t she ?

Jemma fumbled a bit with her stool,adjusting its height, and maybe her hands were shaking a little, yes. She was sitting on Agent Morse’s right, and began to tend to the quite large vertical cut on her arm. The suit had contained the bleeding well enough, but now that it was off, it had started bleeding quite a bit again. Jemma disinfected it, then applied pressure with some gauze. 

« Hold pressure on this. It’s going to need stitches. Just a cut, really ? »

« Knife wound, it is a cut. »

« Semantics aren’t funny, Agent Morse. »

Jemma applied the anesthetic locally.

« It’s nothing life-frightening. And when exactly are you going to call me by my name ? »

Jemma began sewing the wound shut.

« Bobbi. Yes. Sorry. »

Bobbi smiled, still looking right in front of her.

« See ? Not that complicated. »

« You were all kinds of terrifying as that security agent at Hydra, though. »

« Really ? » Bobbi sounded genuinely surprised « That’s why you still don’t call me by my name !? The whole point of it was me being terrifying. »

« And that time in the bathroom was totally necessary, of course. » 

She hadn’t meant to phrase it like that, or to say it so bluntly, of course, but that was just how she was while working. Bobbi raised her eyebrows and looked shortly at her.

« Part of the character. », she said after a while. « So it was necessary. »

Jemma was now carefully bandaging the cut.

« Alright, this is done. Are you hurt anywhere else ? « 

« No. » Bobbi said, turning her stool to face her. « Feel free to check, though. » she added.

Jemma let her eyes watch over the other woman’s body to check, because she was a professional and also partly because she wanted Agent Mo- Bobbi, to see that she wasn’t intimidated. Which was wrong, because she was, and she was pretty sure that she was blushing as well.

« You do have a pretty nasty bruise on your abdomen, but that’s gonna heal by itself. I’m going to give you something to apply on that afterwards though. You’re sure there’s nothing else ? »

« Absolutely. I’m sore, but it’s nothing a shower and eight hours of sleep won’t fix. »

« Alright then, I’m just going to clean the cut you have on your face and then you can do just that. »

Bobbi nodded and lowered her stool a bit. Jemma scooted closer, gently cleaning the wound and then applying some healing cream on it. She got up, still slightly flustered.

« I’m done. Put your clothes back on and then you can leave.. I’m going to fetch Agent Hunter for his checkup. »

« Jemma. «  Bobbi put her hand on her wrist. « Thank you. Really. » she added, looking intensely at her.

« It was hardly anything. You’re welcome, Agent Morse. » She turned around.

« It’s Bobbi ! » Jemma heard just as she was leaving the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter ! Still unbeta'd because i still don't have a beta. English, sadly, still is my second language.  
> Also, finals are hard. In other news, water is wet.  
> I don't know how canon-compliant this fic will end up being

« Still on your computer ? Isn’ t it bad for your eyes, and most importantly, weren’t you told by Coulson to "take it easy" ? » 

« Wel, you certainly sound better than you did yesterday, Bobbi » said Jemma without looking up from what she was doing. « Besides, I’m not the one who went on a perilous field assignment yesterday, so really, I think I’m alright. »

« Always right to the point, Jemma Simmons » smirked Bobbi, peering over Jemma’s shoulder. « And as I said yesterday, it wasn’t much. »

 

A comfortable silence stilled the atmosphere, Jemma typing the final words to yet another report on the newly-recovered Hydra data.

 

« Are you here for any particular reason, Agent Morse ? » 

« See, now I’m thinking you’re doing the « Agent Morse » thing on purpose »

« I have no idea what you’re talking about. » said innocently Jemma.

« Are you trying to turn this into a challenge ? Because that’s how you turn this into a challenge. »  
« A sore loser, are we ? » smiled Jemma.

« I never lose, so I wouldn’t know » grinned Bobbi, her mouth close to Jemma’s ear, her hands on either sides of Jemma’s shoulders, resting on the back of the couch she was sitting on.

 

This time, the silence that ensued was of a much different nature.

 

« Anyway, I’m just here because Coulson, May, Skye and Tripp are off doing whatever they do these days, and I’m stuck here, so I figured we might as well be bored together. » she added shortly after, taking a step back.

 

Given the chaotic way Agent Morse seemed to be behaving with Jemma sometimes, she wasn’t too sure what "being bored together" enticed.

 

« I’m not bored, just… working. » 

« You haven’t written more than a few words since I arrived. »

« That’s because I was done with what I was doing before you arrived. I actually do things, you know ? »

« No need to tell me, you’re the most focused person around here on off-days. Apart maybe from that Skye girl. »

 

Jemma sighed and a frown appeared on her face.

 

«Yes,  Skye has been awfully busy since I came back, that much is true. I have tried asking her about it, but by now I’ve just stopped asking. I really wonder what is going on with her though. I’m guessing it’s nothing too dangerous.. »

« You don’t seem too convinced with that last part. »

« I’m not. I mean technically we’re all in danger, all the time, so I just hope she’s okay. »

« And meanwhile, Fitz and Mack are playing video games, and Lance must be at the shooting range shooting at things. »

« Well I can’t tell wether what Lance is doing is useful-« 

« It’s not, trust me » interjected Bobbi

« -but video games are actually really good for coordination and fine motor skills ! Which Fitz has been having trouble with, ever since the… » Jemma stopped. « Accident.» 

 

Jemma stopped again. 

 

« About that, I know it’s going to come up eventually. I don’t know what you’ve heard but I know how it all sounds, » she added quickly « but I’m fine. Really. Fitz has it much harder than I do. » she added even more quickly, awaiting Bobbi’s reaction and hoping she wouldn’t ask her more about it.

 

Bobbi moved, and for a split moment Jemma confusedly thought that she was leaving the room, but instead she sat down besides her and closed the computer without a word and just looked at Jemma, waiting for her to speak up.

 

« I don’t want to talk about it, please don’t look at me like that. » said Jemma, unable to look her in the eyes. « Just know that it was all much simpler before, and everything used to be better, and we’re all still adjusting. Fitz might resent me for leaving, but it was the right thing to do. As I said, we’re all adjusting. »

 

Bobbi’s hand delicately moved to rest on Jemma’s wrist, almost on her hand. She had this faraway but focused look on her face and that kind, soft smile that could make anyone trust her immediately, and Jemma realized that she had never seen her truly smile while they were undercover.

 

« He’s wrong to be mad at you for leaving, I hope you know it. It was the thing to do, it’s just too hard for him to realize that. It’s easier to be angry at people than to try and understand them. You don’t have to feel guilty. »

 

Jemma wondered for a moment wether she was talking about Fitz or Hunter.

 

« Do you ? »

 

She immediately regretted asking that.

 

« Feel guilty ? About what ? » Bobbi answered, shaking her head, still smiling. « I don’t feel guilty about anything. Ever. »

 

Her hand was still on Jemma’s wrist, but her tone was too warm, her gaze too still.

 

« Sure. » said Jemma, mildly uneasy.

« You haven’t talked to anyone about it, have you, though ? » pressed Bobbi.

« I’m not going to dignify this with any kind of answer. It’s none of your concern. »

 

She withdrew her hand away from Bobbi’s.

 

« It’s fine if you don’t trust me. » said Bobbi in a kind voice. « But you’ll have to eventually. I actually did come to talk to you about something. »

 

Jemma finally looked at her, an inquiring look on her face.

 

« It’s no secret that your friend Fitz won’t be on the field for a while. But with Skye trained under May’s watch, that makes you the only agent of the team without field training. »

« Well I have followed basic field training -« 

« That’s not enough. Look, you know where I’m going with this. »

« Yes, I do. I can’t say I’m surprised, to be honest. »

« If you’re unhappy about it, I’m sure Coulson can make Lance your SO instead »

 

Jemma looked at Bobbi pointedly. After a couple of seconds, Bobbi chuckled and cracked a smile.

 

« I’m joking, of course. Like I’d leave you with him ! »

« He can’t be this bad »

« Are you kidding ? He’d teach you how to use a gun and consider it done and have a beer »

« I already know how to use a gun ! »

« My point exactly. Also, you don’t know how to use a gun. »

« I do ! I have basic field training ! »

« Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. »

« Would you stop it ! Or I might just take you up on what you said and ask for Hunter as my SO » 

« You’d have to be able to get to Coulson first »

« Is that a threat, Agent Morse ? »

« Absolutely » she said, smirking.

« You don’t sound like a very good SO, right now »

« Trust me, I’m the lesser of two evils »

« I’ll be the judge of that. » grinned Jemma, echoing the words of when they first met.


End file.
